The weekend is upon us, and what better way is there to enjoy it than to cook or bake some of your favorite takeout treats? Think of how much money you will save by whipping up these lovely recipes instead of paying out all the big bucks to the fast-food chains. So, here it is: the top 10 secret recipes!
1. McDonald’s Big Mac
1/4 cup Miracle Whip
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons french salad dressing
1/2 tablespoon sweet relish
2 teaspooons dill pickle relish
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried, minced onion
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon ketchup
1/8 teaspoon salt
The Rest
1 regular sized sesame seed bun
1 regular sized plain bun
2 beef patties (2 ounces each flattened to bun size)
2 tablespoons Big Mac sauce
2 teaspoons reconstituted onions
1 slice real American cheese
2 hamburger pickle slices
1/4 cup shredded lettuce
To make the sauce, mix together all the ingredients about one hour before using.
To assemble:
Discard the crown half of the regular bun, retaining the heel. Toast both sides of the heel and the “inner” sides of the sesame bun. Cook the two-all-beef-patties just like regular burgers. After the bun parts are toasted, put 1 tablespoon of sauce on each of the heels (toasted side). Then add 1/8 cup shredded lettuce to each. On the true bottom bun, place one thin slice of American cheese on top of the lettuce. On the extra “heel”, the middle bun, place two pickle slices on top of the lettuce. When the meat patties are done, place them one at a time on both prepared buns. Stack the middle bun on top of the bottom bun, and put the crown on top.
2. KFC Coleslaw
1/4 cup diced carrots
2 tablespoons minced onions
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1. Cabbage and carrots must be finely diced.
2. Pour cabbage and carrot mixture into large bowl and stir in minced onions.
3. Using regular blade on food processor process remaining ingredients until smooth.
4. Pour over vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly.
5. Cover bowl and refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.
3. KFC Chicken
3/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
2 teaspoons MSG
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cut chicken into 8 pieces(4 legs and 4 thighs).
3. In a zip lock bag mix all dry ingredients.
4. Moisten chicken.
5. Put one or two pieces of chicken at a time into the bag and shake well.
6. Then put chicken pieces on an oiled pan. Use Canola or Peanut oil so your chicken will not stick.
7. Bake approximately 40-50 minutes until chicken is done. Half way through baking spoon oil from pan on chicken to brown properly.
So much for the secrets herbs and spices!
4. Coca-Cola
1. Mix 2,400 grams of sugar with just enough water to dissolve (high-fructose corn syrup may be substituted for half the sugar).
2. Add 37 grams of caramel, 3.1 grams of caffeine, and 11 grams of phosphoric acid.
3. Extract the cocaine from 1.1 grams of coca leaf (Truxillo growth of coca preferred) with toluol; dry the cocaine extract.
4. Soak the coca leaves and kola nuts (both finely powdered; 0.37 gram of kola nuts) in 22 grams of 20 percent alcohol.
5. California white wine fortified to 20 percent strength was used as the soaking solution circa 1909, but Coca-Cola may have switched to a simple water/alcohol mixture.
6. After soaking, discard the coca and kola and add the liquid to the syrup.
7. Add 30 grams of lime juice (a former ingredient, evidently, that Coca-Cola now denies) or a substitute such as a water solution of citric acid and sodium citrate at lime-juice strength.
8. Mix together 0.88 gram of lemon oil, 0.47 gram of orange oil, 0.20 gram of cassia (Chinese cinnamon) oil. 0.07 gram of nutmeg oil, and, if desired, traces of coriander, lavender, and neroli oils, and add to 4.9 grams of 95 percent alcohol.
9. Shake.
10. Add 2.7 grams of water to the alcohol/oil mixture and let stand for twenty-four hours at about 60 °F (15.5 °C). A cloudy layer will separate.
11. Take off the clear part of the liquid only and add the syrup.
12. Add 19 grams of glycerine (from vegetable source, not hog fat, so the drink can be sold to Jews and Muslims who observe their respective religion’s dietary restrictions) and 1.5 grams of vanilla extract.
13. Add water (treated with chlorine) to make 1 gallon of syrup.
This recipe is from Food Flavorings: Composition, Manufacture and Use (2nd Ed.) 1968 by Joseph Merory (AVI Publishing Company, Inc., Westport, CT). Makes one U.S. gallon (3.8 L) of syrup. Yield (used to flavor carbonated water at 1 fl oz per bottle): 128 bottles, 6.5 fl oz (192 ml).
P.S.: If anyone has a good source for Coca leaves, let me know – I think I have a good idea for a part-time business!
5. Heinz Ketchup
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Stir and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 min.
3. Stir often.
4. Remove from heat and cover til cool.
5. Keep in a covered container in fridge.
6. Applebee’s Mudslide
2 ounces kahlua coffee liqueur
1 dash chocolate syrup
canned whipped cream
1. Measure 2 cups of ice cream into your blender. Add the Kahlua and blend until smooth.
2. Prepare a 16-ounce wine glass by swirling chocolate syrup around the inside of the glass. Hold the wine glass by the stem with one hand and twirl the wine glass as you squeeze the chocolate. Slowly move the chocolate up toward the rim of the glass so that the chocolate makes a continuous spiral around the inside of the glass.
3. Pour the drink from the blender into the glass. Add a pile of whipped cream to the top of the drink and drizzle additional chocolate syrup over the whipped cream. Add a straw and serve.
7. Taco Bell Quesadillas
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons minced jalapenos, slices
2 teaspoons jalapeno juice, from minced jalepenos
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 dash salt
Quesadillas
4 flour tortillas
4 chicken tenderloins
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
2 slices processed cheese
1. Combine sauce ingredients and stir until smooth.
2. Grill chicken in vegetable oil and cut into thin slices.
3. Preheat skillet over medium heat.
4. One at a time, lay tortilla into hot skillet and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of each shredded cheese and 1/2 cheese slice on one side of the tortilla.
5. Arrange about 1/4 cup chicken slices over tortilla on the same half covered with cheese.
6. On the empty side, spread about one tablespoon of sauce.
7. Fold over, and press gently with spatula.
8. Cook until cheese is melted and slice each into 4 pieces.
8. Neiman-Marcus $250 Cookies
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal
24 ounces chocolate chips
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 (8 ounce) Hershey Bars (grated)
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)
1. Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder.
2. Cream the butter and both sugars.
3. Add eggs and vanilla.
4. Mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda.
5. Add chocolate chips, grated Hershey Bar and nuts.
6. Roll into balls and place 2-inches apart on a cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 10 minutes at 375° or until golden.
9. Reese’s Squares
1 lb confectioners’ sugar (3 to 3 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup butter, melted
1 (12 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips
1. Combine graham crumbs, sugar and peanut butter and mix well.
2. Blend in melted butter until well combined.
3. Press mixture evenly into a 9 x 13 inch pan.
4. Melt chocolate chips in microwave or in double boiler.
5. Spread over peanut butter mixture.
6. Chill until just set and cut into bars (these are very hard to cut if the chocolate gets “rock hard”.
10. Starbucks Pumpkin Scones
7 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch ground cloves
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.
4. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake for 14–16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.
To make the plain glaze:
1. Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth.
2. When scones are cool, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.
To make the spiced icing
1. Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour). A squirt bottle works great for this, or you can drizzle with a whisk.
Sources: Wikipedia, Recipezaar


























cool list, does anybody know the recipe for Chick Fil A’s yellow sauce?
nice! but not what i wanted to see right before lunch
There are some ingredients left for the Big Mac:
Rat legs, a bit of shoe sole to give it a bit of flavour, letting it fall to the ground a couple of times…(:P They’re still delicious)
Great list!
But you will never obtain my mother’s stew recipe! (wicked laugh)
Morgaine: hehe – that sounds like the recipe for KFC burgers
If you won’t give me your mother’s stew recipe I won’t give you my recipe (the best in the world in fact) for lamb shanks! So there!
Morgaine- thanks for ruining that big mac craving i was having
Oh, this gave me an idea for another list you should do! How about the top 10 most deceiving fast food items? For example that BigMac looks awesome, but if I went to McD’s and ordered one right now, the bun wouldn’t even be on the burger, it would have 1 pickle, and the sauce would be all over the inside of the box. I don’t know if anyone else knows what Sonic is, but their menu items look nothing like the real thing you get.
oooh Sonic is so good
top 10 decieving menus
and top 10 happy meal toys
and the best part of a big mac is the sloppyness. i couldnt eat one that actually looked like the image
anes: consider them noted
Thanks.
Juggz: coming soon
I am shocked at the KFC one! Is that supposed to be the original recipe? Salt, pepper, and paprika, huh? I HAVE to try that and see!
I’m definately making those $250 cookies…
aturman0803: it is – I remember reading something a few years ago when I was a kid (okay – wishful thinking) – that said that the 11 secret herbs and spices were just salt, pepper, and MSG.
Whats the fun of making the Coke and taking out the cocaine :p great list, it would be cool to see a sequel, and ill try these and give some feedback
Kelsi- all you need afterwards is the Neiman Marcus “logo” or wrapper or whatever and your in buisness!
With the KFC chicken, I had a “snap my fingers” reaction to a memory of some news a few years back where a couple had “discovered” the secret to the finger licking good fried poultry. Here is a great article from the day which also includes Coke and the Big Mac in the mix. I’m sure others may remember this story:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E6D9103EF936A35751C0A9679C8B63
The neiman-marcus biscuits are the ones I used to make all those years ago Jamie
ben: excellent – I can’t wait to hear how you go
Diogenes: thanks for that – I remember learning quite a long time ago that KFC didn’t really use secret herbs and spices – just MSG and Salt.
Sarah: Oh! I didn’t realise. No wonder it is such a popular recipe because they are damned yummy. I was thinking of making some this weekend
The $250 Neiman Marcus cookie is a hoax:
http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/cookie.asp
Fili: hey – fake or not, they are damned yummy!
True!
I actually made them after posting my Negative Nancy comment.
Fili hehe good
does anyone know how to make raising canes sauce?
kerr, try this:
Apparently this is from someone that worked at Cane’s – they claim it is the authentic recipe.
Ok jamie, I promised id try them and this time I delivered. We tried the KFC selections and it worked great. Instead of MSG we just used another flavor enhancer, but its the same general thing. And for moistening the meat, we used a blend of milk and eggs. For some of our better done pieces of chicken (our first batch got a little out of hand
) you wouldnt have been able to tell the difference. The cole slaw didnt taste exactly like the real thing, but it was close enough you could easily get by with it.
ben: Brilliant! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I am definitely going to give it a try myself now. I don’t have MSG either but my brother likes cooking Chinese so he may have some. I am glad the list was useful
hi,
plz can somebody tell me wat is MSG?
Thankx.
beenish: it is monosodium glutamate – it is used a lot in Oriental cooking. Many people think you shouldn’t use it but in small quantities it is no worse than salt. It is also unique in that it is the only known substance to spark off the umami taste sense (sweet, salt, bitter, sour, umami – or savoury if you prefer) are the five tastes. Umami deepens the flavor of food – it occurs in small quantities in natural foods like mushrooms.
There is an interesting snippet on wikipedia about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_tastes#Savouriness
This has been fun and I’ll try these recipes. I’m trying to find the recipe for Selma’s Sugar Cookies, but I can only find a Selma’s Oatmeal Cookies recipe. Any suggestions?
try http://copykat.com — hundreds of “secret” recipes
I love all this information, but will someone find Selma’s Sugar Cookies, please? Please? Thanks!
haha, oh this is hilarious. I used to bartend at applebee’s so if anyone wants any other drink recipes…btw the Perfect Mudslide is a lot better than the regular one
I love you! Now I can make Reese’s Squares at home.
I never get to have them because they aren’t sold in Australia except for a few shops that are nowhere near where I live. I’m going to get fat now, but I’m so happy I don’t even care. Yum.
oh my.seeing all those lovely display pictures of big macs and the like reminds me how dissapointed i am when i actually receive my order.while quesing up i make my selection by looking at the panels above the staffs heads.everything looks lovely but when i actually open the box its in it looks nothing like what i ordered.grrrrrh i mean they come at all sorts of angles.once i got a square piece of meat.on a closing note i do enjoy my meal but i cant help but sit fuming on how they lied to me.if they give me something that looks like ***** they can at least picture it as looking like *****,i will still eat it
I used the recipe from Food Network for Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. Turned out great.
I love secret recipes. Having said that this CocaCola recipe looks insane. Items like coca plants and kola nuts? WTF? Not that I even drink carbonated bevs anymore (I don’t due to blood sugar issues) but at this level of complexity it’s probably easier to go to McD’s order a large drink then keep hitting the dispensor to get a heavy blast of the syrup (if you don’t know this trick just try continuously tapping the lever w/o holding it in – just keep hitting it and letting off quickly it will dispense the syrup and not the carbowater) and taking it with you.
yumm this list made me drool with hunger haha
i like eggs and my special recipe is rat and deer maker a perefect egg
Guys thank you for all this info you posted!
btw, CAN SOMEONE TELL ME HOW TO MAKE TAKEOUT CHINESE??? I don’t buy the “well, they use gas stoves with extremely high temperatures” as a good, or at least not as the only thing that makes takeout taste soooo different from anything I make at home…
That KFC recipe is not even close. I am a culinary graduate chef and like to “reverse engineer” recipes. This one is pretty close for every two cups of all purpose flour (White Lily recommended):
1. 2 teaspoons salt
2. 1 teaspoon white pepper
3. 1 teaspoon black pepper
4. 1/8 teaspoon rosemary
5. 1/8 teaspoon thyme
6. 1/8 teaspoon marjoram
7. 1/8 teaspoon basil
8. 1/8 teaspoon savory
9. 1/8 teaspoon sage
10. 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
11. 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Top 10 happy meal toys!!
Top 10 happy meal toys!!
Top 10 happy meal toys!!
Top 10 happy meal toys!!
*jumps up and down with excitement*
I was under the impression that the big mac sauce was made with thousand island dressing, with some mayo mixed in. Cool list, not so secret anymore are they.
MSG–can be purchased as Accent Flavor Enhancer. It’s great to have on hand for bee stings–sprinkle it on and the pain goes away fast.
Anyway–this is a great list. I’m skeptical about the KFC chicken recipe, but it is far more believable than the one posted in the comments.
Mark is not correct – the KFC recipe published is probably accurate. When William Poundstone researched this in his “Big Secrets” books using a proper chemical *****ysis company, they found that it contained flour, dried milk, salt, pepper and MSG.
the neiman marcus cookie recipe you have posted is incorrect. it is also no secret. here is the actual recipe directly from the department store’s website:
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)
2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.
3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.
4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
I tried the Big Mac one recently and it didn’t work out well.
What do you mean by “2 tablespoons french salad dressing”? I’ve seen videos and see that it’s orange…But the french dressing in Australia is clear. :S
what r u suppose to do with the cocaine after u extract it? it would be pretty wastful to just throw it away! and i am not a wastful person!
Instead of those pumpkin things, can you find out how to make the Starbucks’ white chocolate mocca… And their whipcream!!
Let me try that KFC Chicken… A lot of people are aiming for that. Good thing I found this site.
If you really want to make KFC’s chicken, it must be pressure cooked. I worked there for 3 years and most people don’t know that the “Original Recipe” and the “Extra Crispy” use 2 different flour and spice mixes and the crispy is deep fried while the original is pressure cooked in oil.
lala is right. i was a manager for a kfc franchise. the recipe and the prep. is not even close. she left out the milk and egg dip and the double battering of the extra crispy.
#47 — Lala is right, to get the right texture of KFC Original Recipe you have to use a pressure fryer.***NOTE: Do Not use a normal pressure cooker. It will probably explode. Purchase a pressure fryer.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned http://www.topsecretrecipes.com. I have all of Todd Wilbur’s books and have tried many of his copy-cat recipe’s. He was one of the first to ever make a living decoding popular foods. I think his first was the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
He has many recipes posted for free and you buy his books online or just one recipe at a time for .99 cents. Personally, I got all of my books either through eBay for just pennies or through http://www.paperbackswap.com.
For other great copy-cat recipes just google restaurant recipes or copy-cat recipes. There are thousands of freebies out there. Use a site where people have tried and left reviews from their own experiments to save yourself any disappointment.
Myself… I need a good, close recipe for Long John Silvers fish filets. Everything I’ve found is good, but not “it”.
Oh yeah, I’ll totally just whip up some CocaCola tonight. Jeez, makes me think twice about drinking it. Also, anyone know how to make Arby’s sauce? It’s not quite a BBQ sauce and not quite Ketchup, all of the recipes I’ve seen online don’t taste the same.
What is MSG? (KFC Chicken)
Gatineau – Starbucks Whipped Cream is spectacularly easy…
You need 8 pumps of their Vanilla Syrup per 12oz. of heavy cream. You can buy entire bottles of the Vanilla Syrup from any store, just ask – they ran about $11 when I worked there.
The white chocolate mocha comes from a mix sent to the stores, god knows what’s actually in it.
i want a recipe of making GOOD QUALITY mcdonalds frenchfries,
i’m not sure about the american french fries, but i love the ones in hong kong when it is salted to the “just right” point where you will dig through the bag for more after you finish the packet
does anyone know how claim jumper creates their fabulous bread pudding? If so, please advise. it is fantastic……
how about KFC’s gravy???
the KFC coleslaw is way off.
your forgetting the semen from the KFC workers, just like they do at my local KFC joint
…sorry for the vulgarity
its not a secret anymore
Ooooooohhhhh, somebody’s gonna get suuuuuuuued! lmao
My first job was in Burger King. I wanted to find out what the burger meat was but it goes from frozen straight into the griller so I dropped a couple of patties onto the floor (accidentamally) and waited for them to defrost. Surprise! They melted into slop! They shrink about 1/3 in the grilling process and come out covered in gray goop that has to be wiped off each burger on a specially designed steel lip at the griller exit point. My "*****ysis" led me to believe they're about 80 cows blood.
I'm trying to locate the recipe for Burger King Crowns. Can you help me?
lisarphillips@cox.net
As a cook, (or chef if you prefer, the only difference is about $35,000 a year), by profession, I really like this. I know that most of this food is considered "junk food", but I don't care, I like these dishes!
i expected The Krabby Patty secret formula to be on here, i dont know wether to be sad and dissapointed, or ashamed and stupid
ill go with sad and disapointed